Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

  Yes, this first piano concerto by Tschaikowsky still brings tears into my eyes.  Tchaikovsky (or Tschaikowsky) was the second of six surviving children of Ilya Tchaikovsky, a manager of the Kamsko-Votkinsk metal works, and Alexandra Assier, a descendant of French émigrés. He manifested a clear interest in music from childhood, and his earliest musical impressions came from an orchestra in the family home. He had a few close friends that he held onto for his entire life, including his brother Modest. This shows a fiercely loyal and devoted side of his personality. Tchaikovsky was also a bit of a perfectionist, and was known to literally tear apart his own compositions if he found them unsatisfactory. Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky was born on May 7, 1840 in Wotkinsk and passed away in Saint Petersburg / Russia. His father was technical director in Saint Petersburg. Tschaikowsky ignored his musical talent for a long time and got shattered when his beloved mother died so early bec...

by Emily E. Hogstad Classical music has been used for political purposes countless times, both in oppressive regimes (like in Stalin’s Soviet Union and Nazi Germany) and in battles for self-determination and freedom (like in the Finnish independence movement). European revolutions have had classical music as their soundtrack for a very long time. © jewishjournal.com Today, we’re looking at ten pieces of classical music about freedom, from  Beethoven ’s opera set in prison to Undine Smith Moore’s defiant piano music about the experience of being Black in America. Let’s get started: Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3 (1806) In Beethoven’s opera  Fidelio , a Spanish nobleman named Florestan threatens to expose the corruption of a colleague named Pizarro. Pizarro wrongfully imprisons Florestan and tells the rest of the world that he has been killed. However, Florestan’s wife, Leonore, refuses to believe the news. So she dresses up as a boy, renames herself Fidelio, ...